Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Stonedbirds
If the number of deaths caused by firearms is directly, and only, correlated to the number of firearms, then why isn't our rate of deaths by firearms HALF of the US considering our ownership rate is near half?
It's almost as if there may be more to it then simply the number of firearms.
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It's also correlated with the type of firearms in both countries, how easy it is to acquire those weapons, and the storage requirements for them. It's a lot easier to commit a gun crime with a handgun compared to a hunting rifle. And it's a lot easier for weapons to fall into the wrong hands when they're stored in night tables rather than locked in gun safes.
When you have a country that has 4 times as many guns per capita, more than 6 times as many handguns per capita, and has little to no requirements on how guns are stored, is it really all that surprising that their gun related homicide rate is 5 times higher?
And if all of these other factors are really what's driving gun related deaths, then why are Canada and the US's overall violent crime rates similar? Why don't the "attitudes, economical pressure, geographical and demographic variances, organized crime, and violent members of society" result in things like assaults, rapes, and robberies being more prevalent in the US than in Canada? Why is it only gun related crimes that feel the impact of those factors?